Daily Report

June 19, 2008

Back to the Drawing Board

The Government Accountability Office yesterday (June 18) recommended that the Air Force throw out its selection of the KC-45 aerial tanker contract to Northrop Grumman and seek revised proposals from that company and Boeing, which protested the choice in early March. The GAO cited seven “significant errors” in the Air Force’s handling of the $40 billion contract award and determined it would be unfair to let the award stand. “We recommend that the Air Force reopen discussions with the offerors, obtain revised proposals, re-evaluate the revised proposals, and make a new source-selection decision,” the GAO said in a three-page release articulating its ruling. Furthermore, it said the Air Force should pay Boeing’s legal and administrative costs in bringing the protest—potentially tens of millions of dollars. The GAO suggested that if the Air Force doesn’t think the original solicitation “adequately” states the service’s needs, it should re-write the document prior to beginning new talks with the two competitors. A similar ruling in the Air Force’s combat search and rescue helicopter competition has led to a two-year litigation delay in getting that program under contract, suggesting that the launch of the tanker program could be delayed at least that long, as well. A GAO official told the Daily Report that the recommendations do not suggest that the Air Force “start over,” that is open the competition to other bidders, but rather refine the way that it asks for information and evaluates the answers it gets. The GAO said that it also denied some of Boeing’s complaints—without saying which ones—because records failed to show that the Air Force had done anything wrong “with respect to those challenges.” Further, the agency pointed out that its ruling shouldn’t be construed as a comment on the relative merits either of Boeing’s KC-767 or Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 tanker models. The GAO’s decisions focused only on the process.

Air Force Response to GAO Decision

Air Force acquisition executive Sue Payton issued a statement late yesterday saying USAF “will do everything” it can “to rapidly move forward” now that the GAO has recommended that it reopen the KC-X tanker contest to revised bids from Boeing and Northrop Grumman (see above). “As soon as possible, we will provide the Air Force’s way ahead,” she said. “We appreciate the GAO’s professionalism and thoroughness in its assessment of the protest of the KC-45A source selection.” USAF said that it is currently reviewing the GAO’s decision and, once that process is complete, it will be in a position to determine the best course of action. The service has 60 days to respond to GAO’s findings of June 18, which sustained Boeing’s legal complaint. Looking forward, Payton said, the Air Force “will select the best value tanker for our nation’s defense, while being good stewards of the taxpayer dollar.”

Round Two Comments

Reacting to yesterday’s GAO decision on the KC-X tanker contest, Boeing’s Mark McGraw, VP for tanker programs, said in a statement the company appreciates the “professionalism and diligence” shown by the GAO in reviewing Boeing’s legal complaint and welcomes “GAO...

Congress Weighs In

Some members of Congress see an opening to get more involved in the tanker acquisition now that the GAO has recommended that the KC-X award to Northrop Grumman be set aside because of Air Force contracting mistakes (see above). And...

NORAD, NORTHCOM Cry Foul

According to a combined statement from NORAD and US Northern Command, the now-widely reported claims that a new classified Government Accountability Office report on the movement of some elements from Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado to nearby Peterson Air Force Base cites a lack of security are wrong. The Colorado Springs Gazette broke the story initially with the headline "Pentagon misled Congress about Peterson security, GAO report suggests," to which NORAD/NORTHCOM declared: "The article in the Gazette is incomplete and inaccurate. … The sensationalized accusation that military officials somehow misled Congress is false." The two commands added that the document obtained by the Gazette is preliminary and does not contain the GAO's final analysis or recommendations and the responses from the commands. Subsequent reporting by the Gazette indicates the Colorado lawmakers Sen. Ken Salazar (D) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) are raising questions about the move. However, in 2006, after then-NORAD/NORTHCOM boss Adm. Timothy Keating explained his rationale for the move to Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), who also raised security concerns about the enterprise, Allard declared himself convinced both about the move and that Cheyenne Mountain would not be closed, as had been reported earlier. Current NORAD/NORTHCOM head, Air Force Gen. Victor Renuart, got to officiate at the opening of the new combined command center at Peterson earlier this year and commented that it would "be ahuge improvement" for the homeland and binational defense efforts. On this latest report, let's just wait for Congressional reaction to the final product.

Opening Up In the Arctic

Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, commander of US Alaska Command and 11th Air Force since May, tells the Daily Report that he is working on building mil-to-mil ties with the Russian Far Eastern Military District as part of his new assignment....

The Arctic Aggressors

The Daily Report got an opportunity on June 10 to get an up close look of Red Flag-Alaska, watching the F-16s of the 18th Aggressor Squadron at Eielson Air Force Base doing their best to push the skills of US...

Busy Day for Strike Aircraft

Coalition aircraft conducted 61 close air support missions in Afghanistan on June 17, Air Forces Central said in a release. In Iraq, there were 25 CAS missions on that day. The strikes in Afghanistan included F-15Es pounding enemy combatants in...

A New Buff Rotation Lands in Guam

The 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, La., has sent another contingent of B-52H bombers and airmen to fulfill the continuing strategic presence security mission in the Pacific region. The 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron element has returned home to Louisiana,...

Pacific Rotation Buddies

In addition to a new bomber force (see above), Air Combat Command has dispatched 18 F-15E and more than 400 airmen from the 389th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, to Andersen AFB, Guam, as part of the...

More Than an Air Base

The Air Force and Army have come together over the name of a key facility American and coalition military have been using in Iraq, deciding on Joint Base Balad, rather than just Balad Air Base. Balad has served as home...

Air Sorties from SWA

Air Sorties in War on Terrorism, Southwest AsiaJune 16, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 27 11 38 5,054 CAS/Armed Recon 30 48 78 14,984 Airlift 112 112 21,187 Air refueling 59 59 7,021 Total 287 48,246...